


Chapter 2

by amill96



Series: One Day [2]
Category: Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2, Video Games - Fandom
Genre: Arthur Morgan x Original Female Character - Freeform, Romance, Slow Burn, arthur morgan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 18:58:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16603694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amill96/pseuds/amill96
Summary: Arthur and Miss Cooper go to rob the rich old man, while beginning to recognize some attraction towards one another.





	Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to do a slow buildup for a relationship for Arthur. I love this sweet sad cowboy and he deserves some romance with someone who ain't a bitch @Mary. HE IS PERFECT THE WAY HE IS AND I WILL FIGHT HER. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you guys enjoy!!!!
> 
> xx AL

    The next day, Arthur woke and continued his business for the gang. The air was crisp and clean, as fluffy white clouds painted the sky. Arthur set out to go hunting with Charles since it was such a clear day. He and Charles would constantly volunteer to go hunting as an escape from the chaos of camp. They loved the gang, they were family, but things were changing within the group. Tempers fly often and at least every other day someone talks about wanting to pop someone else upside the head. Arthur and Charles were always there to back up someone in a fight, but they weren’t about to throw the first punches without reasonable cause. At least not anymore, Arthur wouldn’t usually ask questions before killing someone. But now that he sees how Dutch is changing and becoming more unhinged, he knows he may not be in his right mind right now. Maybe Dutch hadn’t been right for a while, or ever. Arthur wasn’t sure, but he knew he needed to be more aware of the situation before getting them into worse trouble.

“How did you get about in town yesterday Arthur?” asked Charles, patting his horse as they made their way through the winding roads in the forest. Birds and other wildlife scattered as the sounds of their voices echoed through the trees.

“Good I think, I’ll find out more tonight, but I heard some ‘fellers talkin’ bout a wealthy man that lives just north of Valentine. I met a barmaid there who said she’d tell me more ‘bout him.”

“A barmaid? Interesting, does she know why you’re interested in it?”

“I reckon she does since she asked me if my work was illegal.” Arthur softly chuckled. Charles turned to look at him, a concerned expression adorned his face.

“She asked that? Did you say anything to her about what we do or who we are?....” Charles stopped looking at the ground. “Here’s good Arthur, I see some deer tracks.” They dismounted and grabbed their bows from their horses.

“Nah, I didn’t speak a word ‘bout it to her, but she said she was also in the business of thievin’.” He followed next to Charles as they began to stalk their prey. A large buck lurked up ahead, unaware of his predators nearby. Arthur got into a good position keeping far enough form the buck to not alert it. 

“Well good then, hopefully she could be a new friend for us. We need all the friends we can get right now Arthur, i’m worried for our people.” Charles stopped for a moment and motioned Arthur to shoot the buck. He raised his bow slowly, sighting down the buck, and in one swift move the arrow went flying, hitting the buck in the heart. “Nice shot” said Charles as they walked over to their kill. "You are a better hunter than you let on my friend." Arthur tipped his hat smuggly as a thank you for the compliment. 

“Yeah I get ya, Dutch he...well we need money. We can’t get nowhere safe without it right now. Maybe then things will get better for us. We at least gotta try.”

“Yes I know, if we can get money and can get away, get these Pinkertons and O’Driscolls of our backs. Then things will be better I hope.”

“At least that’s what Dutch keeps telling everyone.” Arthur added. Arthur and Charles skin the deer and take the antlers, then mount it onto Charles’ horse. It got quiet between the two for a while. They were both doubtful of Dutch and his great plans. But they wouldn’t dare speak a word about it unless they thought it was dire. “You take it back on to camp, I gotta go to Valentine by dark and meet Miss Cooper.” Arthur mounted his horse. 

“I hope things go well Arthur, be careful, i’ll see you later.” Charles nodded and rode off. Arthur turned his horse and headed in the other direction toward town. As he rode, the sun set over the hills, and the moon rose to greet the night sky. He got off his horse behind the saloon and hitched it. He leaned against a post and pulled out his journal, looking at his notes and sketches from last night, already thinking of what he may sketch next. He thought about what Charles had said, that he was worried too. Arthur wondered how many people at camp also felt this way. _But what could be done?_ He thought. Arthur sighed heavily, brushing a hand over his face. 

“And you’re on time, my my i’m impressed Mr. Morgan!” exclaimed a delighted familiar voice from behind him.

“Miss Cooper.” He greeted her with a tip of his hat, quickly closing his journal, hoping she wouldn’t see the picture of her, “How are ya this evening’?”

“I’m doing quite well thank you.” Miss Cooper walked over to her horse and put her apron in the saddlebag. “Care to take a ride and visit that friend we spoke of?” She asked, turning to look at him, meeting his eyes.

“Sure.” He said quickly. Miss Cooper had figured out that Arthur was a man of few words fairly quickly. She liked that about him, it made him mysterious. Most men approach her talking about how great they are and how they could show her a good time, they spill the beans on their lives all upfront. Thinking she was some kind of high society woman, as that’s what she appears to be at first. There were some unfortunate souls who ran their mouths a bit too much, losing their precious possessions at the hands of Miss Cooper. They rode their horses out of town towards the woods. “Your boss back on his feet yet?” He asked. She let out a bodacious laugh, amused by his question.

“Yes, barely. Poor dumb bastard.” She joked. “He needs armed men or somethin’ in there, I heard a big fight between damn near everybody in the bar broke out couple days ago. Bunch of no good drunks he said. He wouldn’t shut his trap about it.” Miss Cooper shook her head. Arthur paused, surprised, as he was pretty sure that that was Charles, Javier, Bill and himself.

“Oh yeah, I heard ‘bout that.” He wasn’t sure about her yet, he wanted to be honest about who he was upfront, but he didn’t know if he could trust her enough to tell her yet. “So uh, how do you know about this old wealthy ‘feller?” He asked, trying to move on from the subject.

“I met him, he stumbled into the bar one night. And well most men love talking a woman’s ears off when their drunk, especially to brag about their wealth and power. Must help them get the girls into bed. But it didn’t help him much with me. I was gonna rob him myself, get some good money and get out of here. But since you’re interested, there’s plenty of money up there to share.” Arthur looked at her, intrigued.

“You were planning on robbin’ him yourself?” Arthur was riddled with disbelief. She looked at him with furrowed brows, offended by the question.

“Yes I was, you’ll find I can handle myself quite well Mr. Morgan.” She said sternly. He smirked at her seriousness, but made sure she didn’t see his smile. “Apparently he is in the oil business, has a large holding out west, filthy rich. I heard there’s a couple thousand up there between cash and valuables. So I was thinking you and I can hit it tonight. Split the score.”

“That’s good with me, you got a plan of how we gettin’ in?” He asked, moving his horse up next to hers as they slowed, coming up to a large white house on top of a hill.

“Stop here, it’s better to be on foot.” They hid their horses in the woods and grabbed their guns from the saddlebags. Miss Cooper put her black hat on, it had a circular bill and a flat top, like a stalker hat, she then checked her ammunition in her revolver. “Try not to kill anyone, we don’t want the law more on our trail than they will be. Now as for gettin’ in there, most of the guards sleep on the job after the big man goes to sleep so we should be able to sneak in the back without being noticed. There’s a safe in the basement. That’s where all the goods are.” She pulled a bandana out of her pocket and put it up over her face just as Arthur did. He wouldn’t ever admit it but he found that to be quite attractive that she even knew to cover her face. He wasn’t proud that that was an attractive trait on Miss Cooper, but damn he was really starting to like this woman. _She knows her shit_ , he thought.

“I’ll do my best.” Arthur assured her with a sarcastic tone. He followed closely behind her. Trying not to stare at her backside. She wore jeans that fit her rather snug, accentuating her behind and hips. He had great difficulty trying to keep his thoughts pure out of respect for her. “So how did you learn how to do all of this, robbin, handlin’ a gun?”

“I was raised to, my whole family did it. My father had us with guns in our hands before I was seven years old.” She said, her voice went low, there was a slight sadness to it.

“Seven? I was ‘bout that age too but it ain’t right, we was just kids.” He added, also speaking in a low voice. Now that he’s older he thought kids deserve to be kids. There's no use in forcing a kid to grow up before it's time. They approached the back of the house, where a guard was asleep on the steps. Miss Cooper looked at him and put her finger to her lips, she then motioned for him to follow her as they hopped over the railing of the porch, right by the guard who was snoring rather loudly. 

“Do not pity me Mr. Morgan, I may not have chosen then, but I chose to do everything I did as I got older. I was never forced to rob or kill. I wanted to. I liked it then, I didn’t know any better.” She slowly opened the door staying low. Making their way quietly to the basement door. Arthur was shocked to learn she robbed and killed for a living. She didn't seem like the outlaw or gang member type, but maybe that was how she wanted to appear.

“How you plan on gettin’ into the safe exactly without causin’ a mess?” Arthur asked.

“There should be another guard down here, we’re gonna have him open it for us. Now shush, we need to be quiet in here.” Down the stairs to the right was a guard putting stacks of money in the safe, just as she said. Arthur was impressed with all the details she knew about this robbery. It helped make things go very smoothly. He thought if all of their robberies went like this, they wouldn’t be in near the trouble they are now. That’s when Arthur begin to think she could make a great addition to the gang. But he wasn’t sure if she would even want that life. From the sound of it, she just left something similar. Miss Cooper quickly ran up to the guard putting her gun to his head.

“Shh now there Mister, no need to be alarmed.” She looked to Arthur, “If you would be so kind as to tie and quiet down our friend here.” Arthur nodded, pulling out his rope and hogtying the guard. They looked into the safe, a few thousand lay in there between cash and valuables, it was a hell of a score, not enough to help Arthur and the gang leave, but it would help them a lot. He figured Miss Cooper had plenty to get out of town on her own. They grabbed their bags and quickly filled them. Miss Cooper tipped her hat to the guard and thanked him as they stealthily hurried up the steps, they hopped the railing once again and ran for the woods, Miss Cooper was giggling as they got to their horses.

“You really can handle yourself Miss Cooper, now I’m impressed.” He said smiling at her. She looked at him, moving her bandana from her face, she smiled.

“Do I receive your robbery seal of approval now Mr. Morgan?” she joked, laughing. He nodded.

“I’d say, and please...call me Arthur.” She looked up at him, pleased. 

“Oh and we’re using first names now, well don’t I feel special!” She teased. They got on their horses and headed back to town. Arthur wondered what she would do now that she's got some good money in her pockets. He felt saddened at the thought she may leave as they were just getting started. He wondered if they could write each other but he didn’t want to put her in danger by doing so.

“So uh what now Miss..” He stopped for a moment. “ Stella” he corrected himself. He realized how he even loved the way her name danced off of his tongue. He thought there wasn’t a thing about her he didn’t like, and that was rare for Arthur. Even with Mary, who he loved, he couldn’t help but feel shameful for being who he was or not good enough. But here with Stella, he was himself, and she liked him for who he was, she was the same as him even. He knew in that moment he couldn’t stand to part with her yet.

“Well..I haven’t really thought that far ahead to be honest Arthur.” She too liked saying his name. It just felt right, she thought. He was rough around the edges, but kind. She didn’t want to leave him yet, or ever. “I know I can’t stay in town long now that we’ve gone and done this, but I really ain’t sure, I….” Her words trailed off. She felt heavy all of the sudden.

“If you need a place to lay low...I...uh we have a camp, just south of town. It’s well hidden. You can stay with us for a while until you know where you wanna go..or you can just...stay.” He said shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. He thought it was a long shot, but it was worth a try. She helped him, so he wanted to return the favor. Stella looked surprised, she couldn’t believe he had offered her to stay with him. She tried not to laugh, after all when she first saw him she thought he was some rough and tough man, not that he wasn’t, but he was much sweeter than she ever imagined. She felt butterflies in her stomach like some silly school girl.

“Well I couldn’t intrude on y’all, I don’t know anyone else, I’m sure they don’t take kindly to strangers just joining your camp.” Arthur began to reply to her when she stopped him. “Do you share the score with the rest of your camp?” She asked curiously. She kept her horse right next to his as they approached town. She liked being close to him, he smelled of whiskey and hair pomade. An odd scent, but she really liked it, it was him. She looked him up and down. Noticing his tapered haircut, short on the bottom but just a little longer on the top, mostly covered by his hat.  She always loved a good beard on a man, and Arthur’s looked _damn good on him,_ she thought. Her favorite part was his deep baby blue eyes, she just wanted to get lost in them. On the outside was this big burly brute of a man, but when she looked into his eyes she could see the kind soul that laid within.

“Yeah, we share whatever takes we get, we’re like a family, we help each other, fight for each other and die for each other.” Stella thought for a moment, then reached for her satchel with the money in it. She grabbed a few money clips out of her bag and handed it to him.

“Here, i’m only one person I don’t need all of this, you need to support your people.” She said tenderly. Arthur hesitated to take it. Stella moved her hand closer to him. “Please Arthur, I insist.” He slowly took the money from her hand.

“Thank you…” He said. Arthur knew right there he had to get her to join them. She gave up her own money for them already and she didn’t even know anyone else in the gang. She could rob, handle a gun, and she was selfless enough to know when to take care of people, she is just what he needed. “You know, it’ll be alright... you proved you know how to take care of yourself, which is more than some of our people can do. Our camp's at Horseshoe Overlook. I’ll talk to Dutch and Hosea, they’re the ones in charge. Just gather your things and come on over. You’ll fit right in, trust me.” He reassured her, hoping to catch his eyes with hers. She gave him a worrisome look.

“If you say so, but if they ain’t alright with it, that’s okay Arthur, I really don’t want to be a burden on y’all.”

“Oh hush now, it’ll be just fine.” Arthur cracked a charming half smile at her. As they arrived to the back of the saloon, Stella took her horse over to hitch it then walked over to him, bringing her hand up and resting it on his. Her hands were soft and her touch had the most comforting warmth to them.

“Thank you Arthur.” She said sweetly, her face looked relieved. “I’ll see you later then.” Arthur watched as she disappeared behind the door. On his ride back he tried to come up with ways to tell Dutch that she needed to stay with them for a while. He normally wouldn’t be worried, but with the way Dutch was acting lately, he wasn’t sure what to expect. He knew once they all met her, she would be a hit, especially with the girls. He hoped that maybe she could help them with their robberies, just a few  decent scores then they could be free. Free to start over, to really get to know one another outside of this draining life. He began to have these hopes and dreams, where Stella was in each of them.


End file.
